Generally, a motor vehicle has, in separate form, one control lever for the selection and engagement of gears and one lever—usually acting on a cable—to operate a parking brake. The gear lever is mounted with multi-directional movement ability by means of a ball-and-socket joint, in a mounting secured to the floor or dashboard of the vehicle. The bottom end of the lever, which is referred to as the “lever base” is equipped to be coupled to gear engagement and selection devices.
It has also been proposed to implement these two functions, i.e. firstly, the engagement and selection of gears and, secondly, the operation of the parking brake, using the same control lever. A solution of this type can be found in patent EP 2163793, of which the applicant for this patent herein is also the holder.
The technical solution described in this patent is satisfactory, but is limited to vehicles that are not equipped with a reverse gear locking system, for example, by means of a retractable trigger-type release interoperating with a travel limiter. According to this invention, quite the contrary, a trigger mounted on the control lever is used to implement the parking brake control function. It is also observed that, during the engagement of the parking brake function, it is no longer possible to execute the function of selecting and engaging a gear. Note also that the various movements that it necessary to apply to the lever are not ergonomically satisfactory.
The invention is intended to remedy these disadvantages in a simple, sure, effective and rational manner.